LVH.org | HY 08/03: ‘CPR Anytime’ Could Be a Lifesaver

New technique is quicker and easier than traditional resuscitation

For someone going into cardiac arrest, the odds of survival are much better if there’s another person there…right? Not if the bystander doesn’t know cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Sadly, that’s the case with the vast majority of people who witness a heart attack. “In fact, just one in four witnessed victims receives bystander CPR,” says emergency physician Gavin Barr Jr., M.D., of Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network. “It’s one reason the average survival rate for cardiac arrest is only about 6 percent.”

Getting certified in CPR is well worth the effort, but many people are put off by the time it takes. Enter CPR Anytime, a new training kit from the American Heart Association. It’s based on the fact that “any CPR is better than no CPR,” as Barr says.

The kit comes with an instructional DVD and booklet and a training dummy, and it’ll teach you how to do basic CPR in about 20 minutes. “You’re not going to be fully certified, but you’ll know the basics,” Barr says. “And that’s the point. Just by knowing chest compressions, you can save a life.”

An added bonus of CPR Anytime is that everyone in the family can follow along with the DVD and take turns practicing on the dummy. “It’s meant to be used by the whole family, and that means more lives can be saved,” says Anne Marie Crown, coordinator of Lehigh Valley Hospital’s Heart Help for Women program.

The hospital is donating more than 180 CPR Anytime kits to local seventh graders, emergency patients, and new or expectant mothers. “We want to help as many people as possible learn CPR,” Barr says. “This new approach breaks down one of the biggest barriers.”

Want to Know More about how to get a CPR Anytime training kit or become fully certified in CPR? Call 610-402-CARE or click here.

Published from Healthy You Magazine, March-April 2008